About Me

Author of "Common Genius" -- a brief history of how common people built the prosperity of free nations, and how the intelligentsias usurp control and bring on decline -- go to: www.thecommongenius.com
Just published the sequel--"Wasted Genius," How IQ and SAT tests are Hurting Our Children and Crippling America. An analysis of how our schools and colleges are adding the the intellectual morons who make up the New Ruling Class. See www.thewastedgenius.com

Friday, April 16, 2010

Chomsky Turns To The Right !!!

Last week, Noam Chomsky may have taken the first step in a long-overdue search for personal redemption. Speaking to what can only be imagined as a very liberal audience in Madison, Wisconsin, he signaled a clear philosophical move to the political right. The audience must have been stunned since they were mostly from the very Leftist University community.

I have always used Chomsky as a poster boy for the radical intellectual elite. When I assert that the Leftist intelligentsias take their cues from such radicals, I can always point to Chomsky’s latest antics as evidence that they are hell-bent on destroying American traditions, values, and civil culture. But that easy target may be history. Perhaps Chomsky is aping Podhoretz? I recall that when Norman Podhoretz was asked in an interview on C-SPAN why it took him over thirty years to lose faith in Soviet Communism, he replied that, being an intellectual, it took him 30 years to see what an average person would realize immediately. Based on Chomsky’s lifetime of rant it is understandable that his conversion would take even longer.

Now, I don’t believe Chomsky is ready to lead the neo-conservatives, but he did take a swipe at Obama and his close ties with the evil bankers and speculators who just recently toppled our economy. In his speech, Chomsky endorsed a recent poll showing that half the unaffiliated voters identify with the tea party movement. “Ridiculing the tea party shenanigans is a serious error,” Chomsky said, because their attitudes “are understandable.”

He even gave Fox News and Sarah Palin a pat on the back: After pointing out how voters’ indignation and rage was fueled by “the colossal toll of the institutional crimes of state capitalism,” he justified the Tea Party’s demand for answers. And, he added: “They are hearing answers from only one place: Fox, talk radio, and Sarah Palin.” Could even Rush be in there for an indirect compliment?

Chomsky took Obama to task for toadying to the Wall Street speculators and hedge fund traders. He accused Obama, after his initial tough talk about evil bankers might have scared off political contributions, of having reversed course: Obama changed his tune and said that bankers are “fine guys. . . I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.“ Obama’s sudden love of the “free-market” must have been enough to frost Chomsky’s butt and cool his support of the Obama administration!These were extraordinary comments coming from Chomsky. He actually linked Obama, a radical leftist, to “state capitalism” and the evil bankers and suggests they caused the financial crisis that has wiped out the savings of millions of Americans and is now bankrupting the country. All Chomsky had to do was add in the fact that it was the Feds as a group that colluded with a few bankers and speculators and created the bubble and the crash.

After all, it was Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve, and the House Banking Committee that all worked in tandem to have the government guarantee sub prime loans. That gave speculators and mortgage brokers a free pass to make obscene profits. Obama then came in and threw away a few trillion that will make things worse.

The main point of Chomsky’s talk was that this justified voter anger would lead to a fascist take-over of America. He likened our current situation to Germany’s when Hitler rose to power riding the crest of voter dissatisfaction. I disagree with that and believe that in America, current voter anger can be expressed at the ballot box and not by a fascist take-over as he predicts.

Unfortunately, the advocates of massive government spending are so vehement, and their dependent constituency has gotten so large, it will be difficult to remove them from power. If that turns out to be the case, Chomsky’s allusion to a fascist rise to power could become reality. Of course, there are fascists and there are fascists. A benevolent and enlightened fascist might restore sanity and order to the country. It happened under the recurring Medici Princes in the Rennaissance, and though not attractive, could save the country from something worse–the total collapse we are headed for if deficits are not eliminated.

To avoid such a dire alternative, it would be wise for America’s voters to rise up and demand a balanced budget. Major across-the- board cuts in spending would obviously cause some hardships and dislocations in the economy, but the pain would be less than what will happen if we continue escalating our national debt. Americans must accept the fact that there is no easy or painless solution. I would recommend that we all opt for some near term pain to avoid later total misery.